Are hunters getting more lazy?

Ndfarmer

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Apr 11, 2017
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Just curious what others are seeing out there. It seems to me in North Dakota and Montana that there is lot of road hunting and less getting out and enjoying the outdoors. I seen lots of vehicles with orange in them but few parked and out hunting during deer season. I stopped hunting my local area because I lost interest in watching vehicles drive around the same posted section all evening waiting for a deer to step over section lines and shoot it off the road while I'm out hunting. I farm in the prairie pot hole region and we get tons of duck hunters. When they ask for hunting permission And are told are told no driving on land they are not even interested. Kind of sad but nice when you enjoy getting away from roads and there are no people. I brought it hoping that it isn't a problem elsewhere because I think it's bad for our sport. And maybe our state just needs to up the game warden presence.
 
That has always been the case at least in my 40 years of watching other hunters. There are alot more guys that go west now so you notice more of them on the road. It seems that it has always been only 1 in 5 trucks you see along the BLM don't have a hunter in them. It actually seems like more guys get further in now more than ever with APPs like ONX available. For many, hunting has nothing to do with enjoyment of the outdoors.
 
Well for mule deer season I hiked in several day trips...accumulated about 25-30....didnt see much...
Then went to whitetail spot..hiked in 3 days plus some big circles...again 20-25 miles....didnt see much...

Mule deer was fs..accessed thru private with permission..roads around the valley..but only a couple other guys one day on foot...
Whitetail was timber company land..behind gate..no other on foot..but quad guys on roads...

Called it a season....without looking thru the scope at a deer....
 
Hunters are getting both more lazy and more hardcore.

tons of guys driving the roads

tons of guys packed into the backcountry

Very few hunting from .5 to 2 miles off the road which is where I have been concentrating lately 😎
 
I got back to my truck after ones days hike....about 40yds behind my truck walks a small whitetail buck....
Main county road..between two posted wood lots.....go figure...
 
That's funny, sounds like my luck! I do actually think a person can be more successful big game hunting if you drive. But I think a lot of people are missing a lot of wonderful experiences by sitting in the pickup. I do understand if you are not able to hike very far. Most of them have had those good experiences
 
I didn't read all the posts so apologies if any of this is repetitive.



If we get the first hunt animals aren't as spooked, they'll be closer to the roads where there is water.

If we get the second hunt (two weeks later) animals are already spooked from all the vehicles around and we have to go in deeper to get to them, eapecially the mature bucks.

About 10 years ago we used to run in to lots of hunters and we had to change directions or go somewhere else. Now it seems we are almost always alone out there walking.

This past deer hunt my wife and I did not run in to a single hunter, its like we had it all to ourselves, as long as we stayed away from the roads. In the 3 days we were out there we walked little over 15 miles and didn't see another hunter walking around us. We did however see 15 to 20 vehicles off all types in the roads going back and forward all day long. So yeah, hunters are lazier.

Also the last decade or more there has been a bunch of new all terrain vehicles that have hit the market, now you can fit four people in these vehicles vs one or two in a quad.


I got back to my truck after ones days hike....about 40yds behind my truck walks a small whitetail buck....
Main county road..between two posted wood lots.....go figure...

We hunter hard Friday thru Sunday and not much luck. The Wednesday after I went for one last shot, I dropped one @ 280 yds from the road after 10 minutes of driving of the main road. We we're barely a half mile away from all the buildings, I had to range them to make sure I wasn't within a 1/4 mile from them. Had the deer in the back of the truck by 7:30 am, it just goes like that sometimes.

Stay safe all
 
I can say without reservation (from a waterfowl hunting perspective) that there are so many more hunters chasing ducks now. I cannot get over how many people have gotten into waterfowl hunting. There's no wonder these ducks are SO SPOOKY
 
I can say without reservation (from a waterfowl hunting perspective) that there are so many more hunters chasing ducks now. I cannot get over how many people have gotten into waterfowl hunting. There's no wonder these ducks are SO SPOOKY
Actually duck license sales are WAAAY down. The trouble is with the almighty tile. There are only about 30% of the sloughs there used to be. Same with big game land. In my younger day you go ask permission and get the green light and some conversation and make a friend. Now if you can find the landowner you need a stack of hundos just to start the conversation. I get it, farmers/ranchers gotta make a livin too.
 
Yes, I believe the almighty DOLLAR has been a large part of the equation. I will admit that we charge A LOT but not in comparison to some of the price ranges that I hear about. Club Membership that are generational that start at a Million Plus. Times have Changed
 
Trucks, OHVs & golf carts. All the Same to me. I see and hear a lot of them, in PA and OR.
You could call bait piles lazy too.
The truly lazy ones are the violators, when no one else is around and the game is not responding to hunting pressure.
 
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